Brain-Controlled Legend of Adlez

May 1st, 2014 (5th grade)

In 6th grade, a science teacher let me borrow a mysterious headset from a previous student. I soon found out it was a MindFlex toy, with a NeuroSky EEG module inside. Even though the toy kind of sucked, the headset part was still interesting for its “mind-reading” capabilities.

After probing an aftermarket headphone jack on the side of the headset, I figured out the student who bought the headset had already soldered connections to the EEG module. I crammed an Arduino and all the other requisite hardware into a Tic Tac box and the rest is software.

Before the release of The Legend of Adlez, I was experimenting with the EEG hardware, watched the Matrix, and put two and two together. I modified Adlez to slow down time ingame based on how hard I concentrate.

Rather sensationally, I called this “mind control.” Technically it is control by minds. 🤷

Mirrored from the original post:

[This release contains] some general bugfixes, and a cool new obscure feature nobody will ever use or care about: MIND CONTROL!

Well, I say mind control, but you’re controlling it with your mind, not the other way around. When playing the game, go to the Options menu (while playing, so from the pause menu) and click “Geeky Options”. Then check the “Brain Control” box and go back to the game. The harder you concentrate, the slower time gets, based on two different algorithms, Attention and Meditation.

Follow the instructions located here but instead of kitschpatrol’s code, use my version with this chip. Also, instead of running the visualizer, just run Adlez.

I found a second headset on eBay and made another Arduino interface box using the same schematic and code, this time with dollar store wire in a plastic Easter egg. (I really wish I had pictures of this!) This way even after I returned the headset to my teacher I could still make EEG-based games for the small price of my earlobes¹.